"Debra Bowen’s Big, Bad-Ass, Fabulously Gutsy Choice
"August 5th, 2007 by Celeste Fremon
"Last year, a lot of California residents—myself among them— voted for Debra Bowen for Secretary of State for one central reason, and one reason only: she promised to take a long, hard look at the safety and efficacy of the various kinds of electronic voting machines being used—or slated for use—in California’s counties. These were all the machines that then, Secretary of State, Bruce McPherson had already certified—over the protest of activists who worried about the machines’ security. But McPherson, a likable-seeming and genial fellow, assured us they were fine and dandy and certainly not hackable, God forbid!
"Bowen professed not to be so sure. If need be, she said during her campaign, she’d decertify the things.
"After Bowen was elected, a lot of us wondered rather cynically if she would really do what she promised. Or was she—as we figured was more likely the case— just blowing a bunch of campaign smoke? (Not that we don’t TRUST the word of public officials or anything.) In other words, when push came to shove, if she found the machines weren’t up to snuff, would she have the backbone to take responsibility for the huge financial hit—and the Tsunami of criticism—that pulling the machines might mean?
"This past Friday night, August 3, at exactly nine minutes to midnight, we got our answer.
"Miz David, stood up to Goliath...."
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http://witnessla.com/state-government/2007/admin/debra-bowens-big-bad-ass-fabulously-gutsy-choice/
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